Nando’s Restaurant has achieved impressive growth since it made its entry into the United Arab Emirates. The local market in the UAE offers it various growth opportunities. Improved security and infrastructure offers opportunities for further development. However, the management needs to understand various market forces that may limit its expansion plans. The plan emphasizes the need for the firm to develop a unique and wide variety of products to meet the diversified needs of its customers. It should maintain regular market research to understand the changing trends in the market.
Current Marketing Situation
Nando’s Restaurant is a global company that offers a wide range of food products. The firm has made a successful entry into the Dubai market as part of its expansion strategy. According to Calvo and Stanton, the city of Dubai has become one of the leading global tourist destinations (77). The massive infrastructural development in the city, its improved security, and strategic location as a major sea transport corridor have also made it a major business hub in the region.
The population of the city has been growing consistently, which makes it an attractive market for various companies in the food industry. The success of Nando’s in Dubai is mainly attributed to the increasing population of the city and the increasing purchasing power of the residents. In this paper, the researcher seeks to conduct a marketing plan for the restaurant.
Market Description
Restaurants fall under the broad market of the hospitality industry. The classification can be narrowed further to the fast foods industry because of the fact that they do not offer accommodations like the hotels do. However, they all compete for customers who are looking for decent places where they can have their meals. According to Tuten, the hospitality industry in Dubai has experienced impressive growth over the years because of the diversification effort put in place by the government (121).
There has been a deliberate effort by the Dubai ruler to ensure that the emirate diversifies its economy to reduce its reliance on oil and gas exportation. The fast food market has particularly become popular among both tourists and locals within the city. Most of these firms have learned to offer a wide range of food products that meets the needs of customers from all over the world. As Lilien et al. observe, food items popular in the Middle East may not be popular for visitors from Europe, Far East, Europe, North and South America, the Pacific, or Africa (76). These companies have learned how to make a wide variety of food products to meet needs of their customers from all over the world. The diversification has enabled Nando’s Restaurant to attract both local and customers and international visitors.
Product Review
When developing a marketing plan, one of the factors that one has to consider is the product review. It is important to define in clear terms what a firm offers in the market and how effective it meets expectations of the targeted customers. Nando’s Restaurant offers an assortment of food products in the market. Figure 1 below shows some of the food products that the company offers. Some of the main products that this restaurant offers in the market include Veggie Burger, Garlic Bread, Whole Chicken, Corn on the Cob, and Chicken Wrap (Goorwich).
Some of these food items are shown in the figure below. This restaurant also offers a wide range of fruits and drinks. The company, just like other multinationals in the region, has been keen on hiring employees from Europe, North America, India, China, the Middle East, and Africa to ensure that they help in developing a wide range of products to meet the diversified tastes and preferences of the patrons. The restaurant also has a wide range of wine for its customers. The strategy that the company has employed in its product development has enabled it achieve popularity in the city as one that has the interest of its customers.
Competitive Review
The marketing plan should also focus on understanding the level of competition in the market. Porter’s five forces model identifies market rivalry as one of the critical factors that a marketing analysis should focus on when developing a marketing plan (Wirtz et al. 87). In Dubai, Nando’s Restaurant faces stiff competition from various other restaurants offering closely related products. Applebee’s International, Inc and Chili’s Restaurant are some of the multinational restaurants directly competing with Nando’s in the Dubai market.
This company also has to compete with local players such as Elia, Matto Italian Restautant, Slice Mix Restaurant, and Dubai Fish Hut Al-Bashra. Others include Collective by Market Café, The Talk Restaurant, Tribes Dubai Mall, Armani Ristorante Dubai, Arabian Tea House Restaurant & Café, Ruya Dubai, and the Beach Bar & Grill. These firms offer the same products in the market and this company has to find ways of gaining competitive edge. Having a great location is just one of the ways of gaining that competitive edge. It is also important for a firm to offer great quality food products, maintain a high level of cleanliness, maintain a team of ethical and skilled employees, and embrace high level of quality customer service.
SWOT Analysis
SWOT analysis model helps in understanding a firm’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats that it has to deal with to manage the stiff market competition. The management uses such analysis to plan for various activities in the market. One of the biggest strengths of Nando’s Restaurant is its great location, along one of the busiest highways and close to the beach. This location has made it easily accessible to tourists and business executives who value convenience.
The location also enables it to attract one-time clients who are using the busy streets. Its team of highly dedicated workers who come from diverse backgrounds is another major strength of the company. These workers are not only dedicated to offering the best value for customers but they also understand and are willing to meet diverse customers’ needs. As a major tourists’ destination, it is common for the firm to find cases where a visitor cannot eat some of the locally popular meals. Strong brand of the firm is an added advantage.
The strategy helps in ensuring that irrespective of one’s place of origin, the firm is committed to finding a food item that meets the required taste. Superior décor is another major factor that gives it an edge over its rivals. Customers prefer having their meals in cool environment with unique ambience (Wirtz et al. 87). The management of the firm has been keen on meeting these expectations.
It is important to admit that despite the above strengths, the firm also has weaknesses that should be addressed to enhance its competitiveness in the market. One of the main concerns is that the customer service unit can only speak a few languages. They can communicate in Arabic, English, French, and Germany.
The management has been working on ways of expanding the customer service unit to ensure that other languages such as Spanish, Japanese, and Chinese are also taken into consideration. It is common to find cases where there is a complete breakdown in communication because a client cannot understand any of the languages spoken by the staff. Nando’s Restaurant is also slow when it comes to embracing some of the emerging trends. Lilien et al. warns that it can be dangerous for a company to ignore emerging market trends (50). As such, the management should ensure that it understands and willing to embrace change.
The market offers opportunities that the management should take advantage of as it seeks to achieve growth. The growing population and increased income of the locals means that the number of those willing and capable of purchasing its products will increase. Improved technology, especially in the field of communication makes it easy for the firm to communicate with its customers. The firm will also benefit from the government support as the leadership of this country seeks to diversify the economy.
However, the market also has some threats that must be managed. Increasing level of competition is always one of the biggest concerns of any firm in a given market (Kotler and Armstrong 46). As growth opportunities increases, the number of competitors will also rise. The management of this firm should also be keen on managing disruptive technologies. Potential attack from extremists and criminals is another concern for the management of the restaurant. Table 1 below summarizes the issues identified in this model.
Table 1: SWOT Summary.
Objectives and Issues
The primary issue that this plan focuses on is how Nando’s Restaurant can manage challenges in the market and take advantage of the opportunities in the market to facilitate sustained growth. The following are the objectives that the study seeks to achieve:
- To identify major growth opportunities for Nando’s Restaurant in the Dubai market.
- To identify major threats that the firm faces in the market.
- To discuss the firm’s core competencies that can enable it to take advantage of the market opportunities.
- To identify weaknesses that should be addressed to enable the firm achieve success.
- To develop a plan that the company can use to realize growth in the market.
Marketing Strategy
The traditional marketing mix elements were defined as the 4 Ps of product, price, place, and promotion. However, it has since been expanded to accommodate more factors important for a firm’s success. In this stage of the plan, the analysis will discuss ten marketing mix elements that should inform Nando’s Restaurant strategy in the market.
Products
The primary factor in the marketing mix is the product that a firm offers to its customers. This restaurant has a wide range of food products and an assortment of drinks that meet needs of its diversified customer base. It is advisable for the firm to expand its product offerings as the clientele base continues to increase. It should ensure that all its customers will access products that they need. Figure 2 below shows some of the popular products that Nando’s offers.
Price
Pricing is another crucial factor that will define the ability of this restaurant to succeed. High price is often associated with high product value, and vice versa holds true. The management should strike a balance between the two extremes. Its pricing strategy should ensure that produces are perceived to be of high quality. However, they should also be affordable to its customers.
Place
Place is another major element that helps a firm to achieve rapid sales. The current location of this restaurant is great and the management may not need to worry much about it. In case it is necessary to find a second outlet, care should be taken to ensure that the new facility is easily accessible.
Process
A new trend is emerging where customers prefer to see the process that is taken to prepare their food. They want to ensure that the right level of hygiene and the right ingredients are included. Embracing an open kitchen plan may be advisable for this restaurant.
People
The management should ensure that it has a team of highly skilled and dedicated people working in various departments of the restaurant. Once skilled workers are recruited, they should be trained to understand what is expected of them. Attractive remuneration will help retain them within the firm.
Promotion
Promotional strategies that the firm uses will also help in defining its level of success. Given that the firm targets both local and foreign customers, using a mix of social media and mass media platforms will be appropriate for promoting its brand and products. It may also consider using billboards in some of the major streets of the city.
Physical Evidence
Physical evident is another factor that will help define the level of success of this firm. As Tutenadvises, a company needs to ensure that what it promises its customers in its promotional campaigns is what it delivers to them when they visit the facility (80). As such, the ambience of this restaurant should reflect the class it wishes to attract.
Positioning
Positioning also defines the kind of customers that the company will attract. It is advisable for the management to position this brand as one that offers high quality and healthy food products. The global society is getting increasingly concerned about dangers of fast foods. This firm should develop products that address these concerns.
Distribution Strategy
Distribution strategy that the firm uses may help it in its expansion strategy. The firm should consider introducing a new system where customers can order for their desired products online. Once they pay for these orders, this company can use various strategies to ensure that these products are delivered within the expected time.
Communication Strategy
Communication is a crucial factor in marketing campaigns. This firm should use both social and mass media platforms to maintain regular communication with its customers. It should also have a team of skilled customer-service employees who are keen on addressing concerns of its customers.
Marketing Research
The fast food industry in Dubai has experienced rapid growth over the past few decades. According to Calvo and Stanton, besides being the region’s leading tourists’ destination and business hub, the city is also a major transit hub for goods and passengers moving to from North America to Africa and Middle East and back (90). As such, the demand for food and related products has been on the rise, creating a perfect market for Nando’s Restaurant and other firms offering similar products. When developing a marketing plan, it is important to conduct regular marketing research that will enable the management to develop effective growth strategies. Understanding trends and changing preferences of customers will allow the restaurant to know how to define its product portfolio.
Marketing Organization
Marketing organization will enable the management of Nando’s Restaurant to ensure that its activities are properly coordinated. The marketing department should have a clear structure that defines roles and responsibilities of various employees within the firm. As suggested above, the firm will need to use both mass and social media marketing approaches. It should have two different teams for each of the two strategies, both reporting to the head of the marketing department. The head of the marketing unit should then make regular updates to the general manager about activities of the department, milestones made, and areas that still need attention.
Action Programs
The management of Nando’s Restaurant should have a to-do list of marketing activities that will enable it achieve the desired level of growth. The first program should be a market research. The company will need to conduct a comprehensive research that will enable it identify current and emerging trends. It should then conduct an internal audit to determine how the firm is responding to these trends. The audit should help identify internal weaknesses that should be addressed immediately. The marketing department should then develop promotional messages to be passed to the customers through the mass and social media platforms.
Budgets
The planned activities will need financial resources to ensure that they are conducted as per the expectations of the management. Table 2 below summarized the planned budget for the marketing activities. As shown in the table, the firm will need to spend about AED 106,400.
Control
The management should have control measures to ensure that the planned activities help the firm to achieve the desired level of growth using the set resources. The control measures should specifically ensure that each program sticks to its budget. Cases where more resources are spent than what was planned should be avoided (Kotler and Armstrong 78). The management should also monitor these activities to ensure that they make the expected change in the firm. If a program was meant to strengthen the brand of the firm, an analysis should be conducted to establish if indeed that goal is within reach. Programs that are not yielding the expected goals should be terminated to reduce wastage of resources.
Works Cited
- Bowden, George. “Nando’s Employees Call for Changes to Cleaning Pay Policy”. BBC News. 2020. Web.
- Calvo, Porral, and John Stanton. Principles of Marketing. ESIC Editorial Publishing Services. 2018.
- Goorwich, Siam. “We’ve Only Gone and Ranked Every Nando’s Main Meal Option, Haven’t We?” Metro. 2016.
- Kotler, Philip, and Gary Armstrong. Principles of Marketing. Pearson Prentice Hall Limited. 2010.
- Lilien, Gary, et al. Principles of Marketing Engineering and Analytics. 3rd ed., Decision Pro Inc. 2017.
- Tuten, Tracy. Principles of Marketing for a Digital Age. Sage Publication. 2020.
- Wirtz, Jochen, et al. Essentials of Services Marketing. 3rd ed., Pearson Prentice Hall Limited. 2014.